Mental Meanderings

Transcribing 1847

Well I have a new project. I love projects, especially when I hit the hard spots in other projects I'm working on. I've been getting frustrated with genealogy because there are many records not currently available online. There are millions of birth, death and marriage entries that have not been transcribed and whenever I cannot find a record for one of my ancestors I wonder if perhaps it's on that list.

Thankfully the wonderful people at FreeBMD who do the transcribing are volunteers. I've decided to join them so I wrote to one of the syndicate co-ordinators and was warmly welcomed. This morning I transcribed my first 50 entries and I have to admit that the scan I was given to transcribe was thankfully not too difficult. I've seen some that are so difficult to read. I'm glad my first wasn't so challenging.

I actually enjoyed it and was surprised how quickly I could move through 50 entries. You see them on the scan and it looks like a great many but with the software WinBMD it's actually a lot simpler than you might think. The districts are all on listings so if you are having trouble working out what the place might be you can put in the first letter or an asterisk and some of the letters and it will show you a list of possibilities. From these it's quite often clear which place the writing says and once you know what the word is you can see how the letters make the word.

You also know the surnames are generally in alphabetical order. So if you get a Malme followed by a Miln followed by a Muldoon that looks like a Maldoon you know it's a u not an a. Generally. Sometimes the people who wrote those indexs stuffed up too.

There are also some interesting names. You get the regular George's and Mary's and Elizabeth. One I transcribed today was George Reginald. But the really interesting one, the one that had me stumped thinking, can that really be someones name was, Amplias. Amplias Milward. It got me wondering about the family of Amplias Milward. I have the index details of his marriage record, perhaps I should research his family tree and find out about Amplias Milward and his family. What other strange names would I find?

I also found a few people married (perhaps lived) in districts where my ancesters married and lived. Bethnal Green and St. Pancras, Shoreditch, are all places I find in abundance. These people were perhaps neighbours of my own ancestors. Now I want to learn all about these places. What were they like? What are they like now as compared to back then in 1847? Where did these people marry? Perhaps Bethnal Green has lovely gardens and Shoreditch, near the coast?

So transcribing, a new hobby for me, volunteer work which will hopefully help many genealogists some day and will prove a betterment for family history. A chance to do something for the larger community and the fact that I'm enjoying it is a bonus.

It also makes me wonder if there is much call for transcribers for the modern day. Most of the time people type direct to computers these days don't they? Do people still dictate or longhand their work? I enjoy working on the computer and it would be wonderful if there was a need for transcribers that could cover a few of the luxuries I have to refrain from with my budget.

Mmmmmmm..... Something to ponder.